Bryce Dallas Howard sat down with the ladies of The Talk to discuss her new film The Help, but also shared a very personal story about the own help she had to receive in coping with her postpartum depression after the birth of her first son.

Bryce is currently expecting her second child, but is still opening up about the painful postpartum depression she experienced for 18 months after the birth of her first son, Theo.

“It was so weird because he was born and it was just like this wave of nothingness,” she explained on The Talk. “It lasted for a really long time. It lasted ultimately for 18 months.”

“It was like the further — again, a terrible thing to admit — but the further away that he was, from me, the more normal I felt. It was like the closer in proximity I got to him I just started to get sucked into this kind of really dark place. I mean it was insidious. It was horrible.”

So how did Bryce treat it?

While undergoing a treatment for something else with a homeopathic doctor she realized she suddenly felt better.

Bryce admits that since she is now expecting her second child she is worried she will go through it again, but says she has a good support system of friends and family.